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*****

Before I say anything else, I should say that I hope you and yours have not been hit in the latest flooding – not an unusual thing in the UK these days (and some reckon there’s no such thing as climate change). Anyway, I hope your collection has stayed as dry as Jack Dee in the Kalahari Desert. RC’s road crew has been in Utrecht, managing to stay fairly sober (for once) and gaping, aghast, at this Motown collection below. We knew this would be incredible, as it featured in our The Collector spread a couple of issues ago, but seeing it in all its glory is something else. I own a few Motown albums, some of which I am quite proud of – a signed Brenda Holloway LP and Marvin Gaye’s On Broadway spring to mind – but compared to Marc Janssen, I am just a beginner and I suspect most other collectors are too. It was a reason to go to the fair in itself and when you think that this man also has complete collections of several other huge labels too, it’s total mindshag.

As is this next item, which passed before my eyes thanks to a feature we are working on for the first issue of the new year. Here in Britain we are quite used to seeing clips from German TV that entertain and amuse – where else would you see The Untamed, or Shapes And Sizes, featuring my old mate Brian Hillman (later of Rust) looking really cool, on drums? – but this is a particularly good one. Paranoid – yes that Paranoid – with some tosh about The Hound Of The Baskervilles thrown in. And if anyone has a clue what the couple that appear at about 1 minute 20 seconds are dancing to, I’d be interested in hearing what it is. As for that dog, it’s about the least scary critter imaginable, unless it could drown you in dribble. But it’s a great record all the same, and going for fairly serious money if you can find a copy.

I see The Stone Roses are headlining the first night of the Isle Of Wight festival next June (hopefully the planet will have dried out by then) which means their third coming has lasted almost as long as their first, which is pretty good going. There are deals on tickets and ferry crossings here. The band seems to have a thing about gigs on islands, which is probably a deeply Freudian thing that can be traced back to a trauma during potty training. I’d be more interested in witnessing a second coming of a previous IOW icon, but that’s too much to hope for…

The next issue of the magazine hits the shops on 6 December, featuring Jeff Lynne/ELO on the cover… Yes, it’s a good one. Thank you for reading.

Until next week,

Ian McCann, Editor Record Collector

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